As a 14-year-old North East School of the Arts student, Melissa Zarb-Cousin participated in a Magik Theatre production of the all-girl musical Miraculous St. Joan. That experience opened her eyes to the potential of theater to transform lives.
Now, two decades later and with a wealth of experience behind her, Zarb-Cousin has returned to take the role of managing director for the city’s only professional theater for young audiences.
Zarb-Cousin’s varied experiences, which include a stint as an aspiring actress in New York, performing public theater in Colorado, and working as an administrator in two San Antonio youth-focused organizations, made her stand out among a field of 103 candidates who applied during what outgoing CEO Frank Villani described as an extensive international search.
“What gave Mel the advantage was the breadth of her study,” Villani said, citing her work at The Children’s Shelter and as chief of staff of SA Youth, founding and directing The Alliance, a community advisory board of young professionals, and advisory work with United Way of San Antonio and The Public Theater, among other distinctions.
What also set her apart was her past experience with the Magik Theatre. After her performance in the all-girl Miraculous St. Joan musical, she came back during high school to intern at the theater, then after college she returned to become executive assistant to founder Richard Rosen.
Of becoming the theater’s first managing director, she said, “I think it’s just an excellent opportunity to marry the past and the present.”
Previously, the theater was run by Villani as top administrator. He hired Anthony Runfola as artistic director in 2019, and with the hiring of Zarb-Cousin has created a standard dual-management structure common in the nonprofit arts industry, what Villani called a “left brain-right brain” approach to running the theater.
Zarb-Cousin will oversee marketing, fundraising and finances while Runfola manages the productions and works with theater artists.
Runfola highlighted Zarb-Cousin’s prior work as an actress and said, “it’s great to have someone who has come to this role [having] started out as an artist. … To have that mission-based thinking behind the numbers is essential to thriving as an arts organization.”
Villani said Zarb-Cousin “really understands what Magik is about,” and that her familiarity with the youth industry and the San Antonio marketplace will help her hit the ground running, entering in the midst of a multi-year, multi-million dollar renovation plan to bring the theater up to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Villani will step down from his CEO position to mentor Zarb-Cousin through the management transition, then stay on for another year working as a part-time consultant.
Zarb-Cousin said her first initiatives will be bolstering the theater company’s capacity for touring to augment arts programs in area schools, and to firm up positions for teaching artists to help make San Antonio a viable home for working actors.
She said she feels right at home returning to the Magik Theatre, offering San Antonio families a chance to expose their kids to the arts.
“Children are extremely curious by nature, and they want answers to life questions both big and small,” she said. “The theater has the power to creatively educate and enlighten them, and inform them through entertainment.”
